Discover the beautiful world of Nihilumbra and join Born on his adventure to find himself whilst trying to escape from his inevitable curse. Born was created from the absolute nothingness: The Void. But somehow he separates himself from the black emptiness and appears in the world.

Reviews

“is the kind of game that many will look over because they think they’ve played things like it hundreds of times before. It’s not. This is a project filled with incredibly smart puzzle design and an important message at its core. Anyone who absentmindedly picked it up during a sale should do themselves a favor and play right now. If you don’t yet own it, then definitely consider making a purchase in the near future. Nihilumbra is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that will stick with you. (4.5/5)”
http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2013/12/07/review-nihilumbra/64848/

“The whole game is great, but for me the presentation takes Nihilumbra from being a fun and clever indie game to something really special. Its presentation rivals games like Braid and Limbo. Everything looks hand drawn and a bit ethereal, a mix between a Tim Burton movie and a Jhonen Vasquez comic. The visuals are complemented by an orchestral score that’s just Danny Elfman enough, and narration that is very well voiced for the story. The tone of the game is serious, and the presentation really supports that rather than undermining it and making it come off as silly.”
http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2013/09/23/4cr-plays-nihilumbra/

“Nihilumbra shines brightest here (Void Mode). Where the story merely hints at the potential of behind its mechanics, Void Mode demonstrates their genius. It brings out Nihilumbra’s best levels, testing your mettle while retaining the game’s penchant for easily understood puzzles. The mode tests you without employing opaque logic, making you reexamine how you approach problem solving. Plus, there’s even a couple story hooks that bring some additional closure, thus sweetening the deal. (4.5/5)”
http://entertainium.org/pc/nihilumbra-review/

Steam Greenlight

About This Game

Discover the beautiful world of Nihilumbra and join Born on his adventure to find himself whilst trying to escape from his inevitable curse.
Born was created from the absolute nothingness: The Void. But somehow he separates himself from the black emptiness and appears in the world. This is where his long odyssey begins, in which he will learn how to use the colors around him to gain powerful abilities and transform the world.

However, his experiences come at a high price. The Void must be one. It seeks to reclaim him and will never stop chasing him, destroying everything in its path along the way.
To survive, Born will have to condemn the earth he walks to its inevitable obliteration by The Void...

Advise: Nihilumbra has been designed in a way that everyone can enjoy its story, even without previous experience with puzzle games. However, players seeking for a challenge will find it on the second half of the game: the Void Mode.

Puzzle platformer, slow-paced, not very difficult. Main mechanic (besides moving your character) is altering game physics by "painting" 5 different colours (with different abilities, which are unlocked during main campaign) on almost any platform.

Campaign is short (~3 hours) which is basically a preparation for the harder mode (The Void, ~2x harder and longer), which is unlocked after beating the game for the first time. In this mode, you need to employ your platforming skills as well as brain cells a bit more. Good thing is, almost any level can be finished with different approach, using different colours which adds to replayability. Beating the hard mode will unlock a change which will give you the reason to replay main campaign again (I'll not tell you what that is ofcourse). This feature completely change the mood of the game (which is dark/depressing by its setting).

Steam achievements are not very difficult, most of them will be unlocked naturally by going through both playthroughs. Some requires higher skill and exploration, but nothing impossible for 100%.

There’s a specific scene you revisit a few times throughout Nihilumbra. It begins with you falling, the world having been twisted into something surreal, yet oddly soothing. You don’t stay here long, but it was within these brief moments that I was able to collect the scattered thoughts swirling around in my head that I had previously been unable to make sense of.

These scenes represented to me what Nihilumbra was on a conceptual level. They’re beautiful, empty, and meaningless. The reason I was finding it so hard to take something away from Nihilumbra was because there was nothing there. It’s a gorgeous experience filled with expression, but its aesthetics are simply a mask with nothing underneath.

Nihilumbra tries relentlessly to carve out a philosophical core within its narrative, but it comes across as venting the poorly formed ideas of someone who has given up on the world rather than something profound. The writing feels forced and lacks any impact, obnoxiously attempting to make you feel something - anything - by simply stating those feelings as if that is somehow enough to bring them into existence. Ultimately the constant reminders that I was supposed to feel guilty or scared only caused me to become despondent and annoyed.

The detached way in which Nihilumbra handles morality makes it feel as if it doesn’t really care. It wants to come across as deep without having anything to actually say, filling its world with empty words that bounced off me as quickly as they reappeared.

Eventually I simply tuned the writing out and attempted to focus on the puzzle designs instead, yet doing this only brought out how similarly hollow and disinteresting those elements were too. Controlling various elemental powers which can be painted on the environment should provide endless interesting applications, but Nihilumbra never even scratches that surface. It provides you new tools at a steady pace but never a creative way to use them.

Puzzle designs repeat the same basic ideas the entire way through, often requiring no forethought as the answer is simply a slightly altered version of the tutorial. Nihilumbra isn’t just easy, it’s numbingly repetitive and unstimulating. The only time I felt challenged was in navigating the interface, which while not terrible tended to feel awkward and more suited to its touch-based origins than a mouse and keyboard. But then as if to mock me, completing the game unlocks “void mode”, which far from the simplistic main game radically raises the difficulty with cheap trial and error level designs. This doesn’t in turn make them any more engaging however, as the only thing being tested is your patience and how quickly you can move your fingers, rather than your puzzle solving skills.

Nihilumbra is such an exquisite game to look at, that it’s disheartening to see such lovely artwork was wasted on an experience that only manages to dull the senses. It functions, but provides no incentive to spend even a few hours to complete it. Playing it felt almost like it was actively pushing me out, unintentionally but forcefully, as if despite having outrun the void pursuing me it had already devoured the game itself.

One of the most original game I have ever played. It's a platform game with a tale about sens of life, colours embellished with great artism put into it's graphics. Your eyes are going to feast by watching well-drawn stuff, starting landscapes through enemies and ending on small elements. This game is also innovative because of it's mechanics based on the manipulation of various colours used to beat each level. Finishing basic storyline will be a short (but with great atmosphere) experience, although you have also a hard mode called "Void Mode".I can fully recommend it for people who like platform games with original content.

This game is weird looking but with beautiful environments. You have a narrator to help you in your journey and an amazing soundtrack. It's basically a platform game with a unique style of its own. It is rather short with only six (6) sections to explore. What made the gameplay standout, is the way you can manipulate your environment with just a simple stroke of your mouse. When you pick a color and move your mouse it paints your suroundings. If you choose blue, the terrain becomes slippery; green makes it more springy; brown makes it sticky; red burns things and yellow conducts electricity.The game appeals more to a much younger audience but I am still glad I purchased it. It is one of the best platform games out there. I recommend this to everyone. Go and pick one now.